The present invention relates to a cleansing device and in particular to a device for surgically scrubbing and cleansing the hands and arms of a surgeon.
It is well known that, under emergency conditions, the survival of a patient often depends on the time elapsing while the surgical teams scrubs before entering the operating room. The typical pre-surgical scrub requires a time duration of five to fifteen minutes according to the type and length of the planned operation. In the past, the pre-surgical scrubbing of the surgeons and operating room personnel has followed the same pattern. Scrub brushes and various chemicals are used in order to free the hands from the bacteria which may contaminate the patient. The scrubbing has to be complete and diligent and is not only time consuming, but in many cases, causes irritation to the skin. Further, since not all persons scrub in the same manner, the results achieved vary between persons and between scrubs by the same person. Also, while diligent scrubbing removes the surface bacteria, it has been found to have a lesser effect upon the bacteria present in the follicles and skin depressions. Obviously, any bacteria not removed may act as a contaminate to the patient during surgery. It has been shown that problems associated with pre-surgical scrubs include length of time involved, some bacteria not removed, difficulty in removing bacteria under and around fingernails, damage to tissue from repeated and long scrubbing operations, and sensitivity of the various individuals to certain disinfectants and detergents.
In an effort to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art method of pre-surgical scrubbing, U.S. Pat. No. 3,757,806 proposed a pulsating hydrojet lavage device which utilized pulsating jets of pressurized washing fluid for the purpose of quickly preparing personnel for cleanliness of the hands. The hands and arms of the individual to be scrubbed were inserted in a washing chamber comprising a curvilinear manifold arranged about longitudinal axis and subjecting the arms and hands to pulsating jets of a washing fluid discharged from the manifold device. The arm would be slowly rotated to achieve uniform exposure to the pulsating jets of washing fluid discharged from the manifold openings. It was found that when the lavage device was operated with a pulse frequency of approximately 1500 pulses per minute, the spray jets caused a compression-decompression effect on the human skin which was particularly effective in removing dirt and bacteria in the follicles and skin folds. Testing of the device showed that after both 50 PSI and 80 PSI lavage maintained for 90 seconds, the resulting cleanliness obtained was better than a conventional scrub of five minutes duration.
Although such device was found to be extremely effective in cleansing the skin in a very short time, it proved to be unsatisfactory in use for reasons other than the cleansing procedure and was discontinued. One of the disadvantages of the prior art lavage device was the extremely loud noise factor. The unit vibrated a great deal and was so loud in operation that it had to be placed in a particularly well isolated area in order to prevent the noise from bothering the patients and other individuals. This meant it could not be used in close proximity to operating rooms without somehow noise insulating the room in which the lavage device was located. One of the reasons for this noise was the use of tubing having square turns where the high pressure fluid would have to make a sudden change in direction. Further, the cleansing fluid pulsated. That is, it varied from 0 pressure to a maximum pressure some 1500 times per minute. Inasmuch as the fluid was pulsating, it struck the tubing at these right angle joints thus causing a great deal of slamming and vibration. Also, there was no way to really clean under and around the fingernails without curving the fingers and moving the hand back and forth under the various spray nozzles. In addition, the use of a pulsating jet, while being an effective cleanser of the skin, also proved to be irritating to the skin since the high pressure pulses had the effect of "slapping" the skin thus causing irritations after repeated use. Also, two people had to use the unit simultaneously with one individual having his arms and hands inside the lavage device while the other turned the operating switch "on" and after a predetermined time turned it "off". Further, the openings through which the hands and arms were inserted had no seals in order to prevent bacteria from transferring from an exterior source to the arms of the user when the arms were removed. Thus, the liquid splashed on the individual using the lavage device or else towels or other devices were wrapped about the arms to form ineffective seals and bacteria transferring sources.